The Taste of Summer

I have never thrown up with any of my pregnancies. In the past morning sickness has been easily remedied by a handful of almonds or a swig of peppermint tea. Not this time around. I still haven’t thrown up but my morning sickness has turned into an all day event that really makes me want to just curl up on the sofa. However I still have 3 children to raise.

Yesterday Two wanted to go outside. With weaning, teething and morning (all day) sickness going on all week we had canceled appointments and stayed home for nearly a week. Two is bored out of his mind. Did I mention it has rained nearly all week. Our snow banks that had still been deep enough to loose a boot in is all but gone.

So back to the request to go outside. It meant getting off the sofa, getting everyone ready to go outside and then actually do it. It didn’t really sound good to me but I decided to sacrifice. When we went out I discovered there was a lull in the rain and i didn’t feel sick at all. So I set to work cleaning the yard of a winter’s worth of dog poop. I heard rumors we were supposed to get to 60 degree next week and knew a yard of dog poop and warm weather didn’t mix. Miraculously I felt really good working.

I started thinking about summer and spending times outdoors working and how much I love it. Then for dinner I pulled out a frozen container of my favorite oven roasted tomato sauce with basil. When I opened the container it smelled like summer–heavenly. Even with being sick to my stomach it was the best meal all week.

Teething, Weaning and Sleepless Nights

My milk is drying up. With my other 2 children they just lost interest once this happen but for Mavis this happens to coincide with teething. So she wants to nurse but is upset because the milk isn’t coming so she wants to nurse more and more which makes me really sore since the pregnancy is making me tender anyway. Needless to say the past couple of nights have not gone well.

The Bible says that we are to be like little children. Does this mean being in a good mood in the morning no matter if we have been up all night crying due to the fact that our main source of comfort isn’t doing the trick anymore and we don’t understand what’s going on and we don’t like it and we feel wronged and maybe a little unloved?

She is definitely much better at this then I am.

Tomato Soup

With my other pregnancies when Proeun would ask me if I was craving anything I would jokingly say, “yes, something someone else cooked.” Now I see my role as nurturer spreads beyond breastfeeding, cuddling and warm feelings to the very physical act of feeding my children as healthy food as possible to nourish their minds and souls.

Though I see my job in a different light honestly it doesn’t make it easier to do when you are dead tired from being up all night with your newest toddler who happens to be teething or your 3 year old who has a fever again and kept the 5 year old up. Yeah it’s not easy getting up in the morning and cooking a meal you can feel good about feeding your children.

That’s where having simple, healthy, fast dishes if a great help. Here’s one of my favorites.

Tomato Soup

1 cup water
1 cup cashews
1 medium onion

Blend until smooth.

Add 2 cups water (I normally add only 1, I like a thicker soup)–Blend again.

1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt (eliminate if using canned tomatoes)
1 tsp basil
2 TSBP oil
1 TBSP honey
4 oz tomato paste
1 qt canned tomatoes

If using fresh tomatoes, cook tomatoes in a kettle for a few minutes until soft. Add rest of ingredients to blender. Whiz to incorporate. Heat in a kettle, do not boil.

I use the tomatoes I canned last summer. I didn’t make any tomato paste but if you did that would add another fabulous element to this dish. It takes like 5 minutes to whiz it up. Even a tired mom with morning sickness can handle that.

Hot Cocoa Mix

I know spring is on the way but recently I was at a friend’s house. Her 5 older children and my 2 older children were playing outside in the snow. When they came in everyone was in the mood for hot cocoa. My friend whipped out a gallon ice cream container full for hot cocoa mix, I was in awe. I asked where she got the recipe and she said Betty Crocker. We were out of cocoa mix at home so I decided to purchase the ingredients next time around.

Then I realized I could adjust them to my taste. Here’s the basic recipe

Hot Cocoa Mix

3 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 cup powdered nondairy creamer
1/2 cup sifted unsweetened cocoa  powder

Combine all ingredients and store in air tight container

To mix: 1/3 cup mix in a mug and 3/4 cup boiling water (note I think you should use at least one cup water otherwise it is too strong).

So since I am allergic to dairy products I decided to use Better than Milk–Soy powder in Vanilla flavor. I also went to Trader Joe’s and got their cocoa and I left out the nondairy creamer.

Once I went to a church women’s retreat with my mom, grandma and aunts. The resort had amazing hot cocoa–thick and rich. This mix reminds me of that. I won’t buy hot cocoa mix again and the price is hard to beat!

Personalized Towels

Every year for Christmas my sister gives the children handmade, personlized gifts. This year it was big, fluffy bath towels with their name embroidered on it. The kids love having their very own towels and as parents it makes it much easier to have the name right one it so as not to mix them up.

We had been using the towels for a couple weeks. I grabbed Avril’s towel, held it out for her and was waiting for her to get out of bath. That was when she looked at me and said, “Mommy you have to turn me upside down.” I looked confused so she pointed at the towel and said “it’s upside down.” I looked down and sure enough she was right.

I was honestly a little baffled as to how she figured that out and over the next couple of days I tested her. She was right every time. Then I let it go for awhile and last night decided to try again. I deliberately turned it upside down to see if she noticed. I wasn’t disappointed.

Our approach to homeschooling has been more of an unschooling approach. Instead of traditional class work, we work to enrich our family life and learning opportunities in day to day life. I try to read to the children several times every day. I also try to nurture their natural interest which is probably why Two knows what deer tracks and bald eagle nests look like and how to spot animals in the wild. Some days I am better then others. The past couple of weeks have been crazy and i feel like I really need to get back on the ball, and then they remind me that they are learning always.

Still the children constantly surprise me, whether it is recognizing not only letters but if they are upside down or questioning my philosophy on life (you laugh but it happens).

Storytelling–a crash course

I never considered myself a storyteller. A writer perhaps but certainly not someone who can entertain on a face to face basis without the aid of a book or at least a pen and pencil. See I was convinced I had no imagination I suppose it all started when I began to read stories to the children. I would do my best to make my reading of them interesting but if I was really tired I would just read it straight through and they didn’t seem to care.

However since coming back from the conference and trying to get caught up on the house work, dealing with sick children and the extra laundry they entail, having slight morning sickness and all the symptoms of being in the first trimester of pregnancy I haven’t been reading as much as I would like to the children.

Yesterday we went to take Proeun to work. Mavis had fallen asleep before we left and Avril had fallen asleep in the car. Avril stayed asleep as I carried her inside. Mavis woke up slightly and my first priority was to get her back to sleep. We usually do nap time right after dropping off Proeun so it wasn’t too out of the ordinary for Two but as a stalling tactic he requested a story. However I had one child asleep and another one I was trying to get back to sleep and I didn’t want to turn on the light and go get a book so I sighed and said “what if I tell you a story?”

I was actually surprised when he said yes. I was going to go with a old family story but he wanted one about dragons. So I had to pull deep on this one. I was even more surprised when the story seemed to just keep flowing and flowing right out of me. I left him wanting more.

In the evening when we went to pick up Proeun there were requests for more stories and more at bedtime and more when we woke up. He’ll say things like, “just one more story, please I’ll do whatever you ask.” Now I just have to keep coming up with them.

It may not seem like much but in our quest for simplicity knowing that I have what it takes to entertain my children should the need arise is a powerful feeling. It is so easy to be dependent on books, games, TV and such to entertain our children. As adults we slowly deny our imagination over time until we feel that we don’t have it. Come up with a story off the top of my head?–you’ve got to be kidding.

Then you give your imagination a little wiggle room out of desperation and exhaustion and find out that imaginations are still a powerful thing.

The Legend of Crazy Boy

Once there was a boy who came from vastly different backgrounds. His father was born in the mountains of Southeast Asia, in Cambodia. His mother was born to the bitter cold plains of the Midwest. His parents’ hearts though separated by half the world journeyed tirelessly together. The two halves had to be joined. When they did the boy was born and later his sisters.

 

The heart of the boy belonged in the wilderness, to the animals and plants that grew around him. He was wild and happy. He enjoyed frog races and dining on wax worms while fishing.

 

His parents knew it would be hard work to keep the boy wild and free and to keep the familys’ hearts joined together and to the land. In finding each other they had left the land and now it was time to return with their children.

 

And so they did– To Crazy Boy Farm. This is our son. This is our farm. This is our journey. We invite you to join us on a journey to the land, to simplicity and to hearts joined forever.

This is our journey from a strictly urban environment to a more self-sufficient and rural lifestyle. Thanks for joining us.

SUPER Farmer!

One fun thing we found at the conference was farm related temporary tattoos. I had the kids wait until we got home to do them so yesterday as we were putting away all the conference stuff and they reemerged it was a high order of business to get those tatoos done now. Here is the one Two picked out. I didn’t say anything or name the tatoo but he did—super farmer, spoken long and drawn out like any self respecting super hero. This was his persona for the day. I wasn’t able to get him to stand still long enough to snap a picture until the end of the day.

Here’s Captain Strawberry.

And a young member of Tomato Force.

Midwest Organic Farming Conference

We are back from the Midwest Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, WI. This was our first trip down there and though everyone told us it was an amazing conference we really weren’t prepared.
 
The whole Crazy Boy Farm family went down together. Our fun began on the way down. We chose the slightly longer scenic route of highway 61 along the St. Croix river all the way down. At Lake Pepin and Wabasha we started seeing bald eagles–so many we just had to count them. Seven on the way down, 5 on the way back. On the way down it was mid day so most of the eagles were just perching on trees near the highway watching the open water. On the way back it was getting close to dusk and they were out hunting–that was a sight. We also saw a flock of 13 wild turkeys and 3 bulls. Two was our little wildlife spotter. I told Proeun one day we will have to get a really good camera to take all these wildlife pictures.  

One great quote from the trip down came after a stop to buy snacks. Mavis had been fussing for about a half hour and we couldn’t take it anymore so we decided she needed a distraction. We stopped at a grocery store in Red Wing and when Proeun came back with a bag of chips and lollipops (not my choice) there was much excitement in the car. Two gleefully took his first bite of chips and said wistfully, “we got chips and the power of love.” Proeun almost choked on that one.  

Over 2,000 people attended the conference which is the largest one  in La Crosse according to one of the workers who said, “no one is allowed to take vacation for this one.” Moving the children from place to place with that many people around can be an adventure.

 

Our plans also changed frequently during the conference to accomodate the children. Avril was sick the first night in the hotel so taking them to the children’s area was out of the question until we figured out if it was a virus or something she ate. We also had to change plans to allow her to rest and recover. Of course the workshop Proeun really wanted to take was early the next morning. So he went and I took the shuttle from our hotel later when the children woke up. Then later in the day we again changed plans to allow for nap for us  which was totally worth it and it really helped us enjoy the evening more.

The class Proeun took was on organic mushroom production.

I love oyster mushrooms.

One of the best things about the conference was meeting other farmers who were out there living the dream and doing the good work.

Here’s the Cowsmo man. His family runs a dairy farm. They came up with a new, unique and healthy use for all that cow poo and now produce a really popular organic compost and potting soil, all from thinking outside the box. We used their compost to start our seeds last year and plan to again this year.

The dining area was another great place to network. I guess I have been neglecting my children’s culinary education though, they weren’t too keen on the quinoa and couscous. Luckily they had good old mac and cheese and organic pulled pork sloppy joes.

I even got to attend a workshop on media relations. Since I am also sort of media I thought it would be a good one for me to attend. I wasn’t prepared for just how amazing it would be. Through their directed exercises I was able to hone our business philosophy and mission–“Family Friendly Farming: for our children and yours.” Lisa Kivirist and her husband John Ivanko run Inn Serendipty, a bed and breakfast where they produce their own food organically. Lisa said “we have to look at the big picture. This is more then just about our businesses. As our businesses improve, the movement [sustainable agriculture] grows and the world becomes a better place. . . we are changing the world by changing the food system.” Wow talk about a pep talk!

We did take time to allow our own little portion of the world to take a break. Our hotel had a pool and game room and by the second day Avril was much improved and was able to go to the children’s area, supervised by one of her parents. Here’s a picture I will really remember from what ended up being more then a farming conference but also a great family trip.

The box is back

After a week or so of ignoring the box suddenly interest reemerged this week. We have been turning the TV off early to have a quiet evening and all of a sudden the imaginations of the kids are coming out.

By now the box is pretty beat up. The cats have been using it while the children were ignoring it. Somehow the children got the idea to open up the back of the box not understanding that this would cause the box to fold flat. So I came up with the idea to prop it up with chairs.

A 2nd box came out of the basement. They wanted to open this as well. We had been reading Danny Meadow Mouse By Thornton Burgess. Now we had 2 run ways a a little den all under our kitchen table.

At night the cats get their box back.